Petra Rudolf is the next EPS President-elect. She will take up office as the President of EPS in April 2019, when the term of the current President, Rüdiger Voss, comes to an end.

Petra Rudolf was elected during the Council meeting of the EPS held on 6-7 April 2018 in Paris. The Council delegates listened to inspiring presentations from two candidates. The EPS would like to express its heartfelt thanks to Gloria Platero Coello (Institute of Material Sciences of the CSIC, Madrid) who also stood as candidate for President-elect. Her vision of EPS and projects were impressive as well.

Petra Rudolf was born in Germany but moved to Italy for her last high school years. She studied Physics at the University of Rome, specialising in Solid State Physics. In 1987 she joined the National Surface Science laboratory in Trieste for 5 years, interrupted by 2 extended periods at Bell Labs, USA, where she worked on the newly discovered fullerenes.
In 1993 she moved to the University of Namur, where she received her PhD and quickly progressed to lecturer and senior lecturer before taking up the Chair in Experimental Solid State Physics at the University in Groningen in 2003.
2014-2018 she was Director of the Graduate School of Science and Engineering. Her main research interests concern molecular motors, graphene, organic thin films and inorganic-organic hybrids. She has published more than 200 articles and given more than 70 invited talks at national and international conferences.
She was President of the Belgian Physical Society (2000/01) and elected Fellow of the IoP (2001), Lid van verdienst of the Dutch Physical Society (2006), Fellow of the APS (2010) and member of the German National Academy for Science and Engineering (2016). Her work on molecular motors earned the 2007 Descartes Prize of the European Commission. In 2013 she was knighted by H.M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

The EPS Plasma Physics Division Board has pleasure in announcing four winners of its 2018 PhD Research Award. These were selected on the basis of their outstanding PhD theses, which were among many submitted for evaluation by Professor Stefano Atzeni (University of Rome 1) and Professor Hartmut Zohm (Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Garching), in a process co-ordinated by Professor Carlos Silva (Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon) for the EPS-PPD Board. Each winner receives a prize of one thousand euros, together with the opportunity to give an oral presentation at the 45th Annual EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, to be held in Prague in early July.

The winners (in alphabetical order of surname) are:

Matteo Falessi of Roma Tre University, for his thesis on "Gyrokinetic theory for particle transport in fusion plasmas", supervised by Fulvio Zonca;

Adrien Leblanc of the University of Paris-Saclay, for his thesis on "Plasma mirrors and plasma gratings under ultra-intense laser illumination: high-order harmonic generation, and relativistic electron beams", supervised by François Amiranoff;

Wei Zhang of Ghent University, for his thesis on "Plasma edge modeling with ICRF coupling", supervised by Jean-Marie Noterdaeme.

The HEPP Board of the European Physical Society is soliciting Expressions of Interest (EoI) from potential hosts of the EPS-HEP conference in 2021. These EoIs should contain information on the Local Organizing Committee, the Universities and/or Laboratories involved, the location of the conference, the foreseen costs and the expected financial contribution from sources other than conference fees.
The EoI should be sent by the 30th of April 2018 to the Chair of the EPS-HEPP board:
Barbara Erazmus (barbara.erazmus@subatech.in2p3.fr).

The EPS-HEPP Board will form a short list of candidate sites and invite their representatives to present their formal bids at an EPS-HEPP Board meeting at CERN in October 2018.

The selection of the site for 2021 will be decided at the same meeting.

The EPS Plasma Physics Division is happy to announce that the EPS PPD Innovation Prize 2018 has been awarded to

Professor Arutiun Ehiasarian

"for the use of plasma physics in coating technology and engineering, through seminal contributions to the science and industrial applications of High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering for substrate pre-treatment and deposition of coatings and thin films."

Long citation

The emergence of the High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) is the most significant development in plasma vapour deposition (PVD) technology in the past decade. Its importance to the field is at the same level as the invention of the magnetron itself. After more than a decade of dedication to the development of this technology, the undisputed leader in the area of HIPIMS is Professor Arutiun P. Ehiasarian of Sheffield Hallam University, UK. His accomplishments are many, and include: significantly deepening the understanding of the fundamentals of the process; being the first to implement the technique using industrial scale equipment; patenting HIPIMS metal ion surface pre-treatment; and being the first to analyze the growth mechanisms of complex films. Furthermore Professor Ehiasarian has been a leader in organising scientific forums to exchange knowledge and accelerate the progress of this new area of plasma physics applications.

Professor Ehiasarian's central role in developing understanding of the physics of the HIPIMS discharge and applications to thin film technology is reflected by the fact that, in 2003, he was awarded the first UK grant to study the fundamental physics of HIPIMS. His research provided the first direct evidence of the presence of large fractions of singly and doubly charged metal ions in HIPIMS, through electron impact ionisation. He discovered a new regime of plasma confinement and mechanism for discharge sustainment. He elucidated the origins of the ion and electron energy distribution functions, and found conditions for high levels of dissociation of reactive gas, leading to changes in crystallographic texture and extreme densification of the deposited films. In 2006 he discovered strong instabilities in the HIPIMS plasma which self-organised along the racetrack, causing localised ejection of plasma across magnetic field lines. This has led to a revision of the understanding of the working principle of the magnetron itself.

Professor Ehiasarian is among the world leaders in the effort to make HIPIMS accessible to the wider community and to develop its industrial applications. He was the first in the field to accomplish the scale-up of the HIPIMS process. Based on his design, Hüttinger manufactured the first industrially viable power supply to drive targets with an area of 2000 square centimetres. This instigated the industrialisation of the HIPIMS technology worldwide. Professor Ehiasarian has supported the establishment of the largest production HIPIMS coating facility at Ionbond UK in 2014. Based on his work, Zimmer Biomet successfully implanted HIPIMS-coated artificial joints in a sheep test model; this demonstrated unparalleled biocompatibility, metal ion release reduction, and adhesion.

Professor Ehiasarian patented the HIPIMS etching technology which has been licensed to number of companies in Europe and the USA. Both Hauzer and CemeCon market HIPIMS systems for hard coatings, with impressive sales. Two of their customers, Walter AG and Mitsubishi Materials, offer HIPIMS-coated cutting tools in their commercial portfolio. Collaboration with Oerlikon Balzers to introduce production technology for wafer metallisation led to several systems operating in the field. Together with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK), Professor Ehiasarian developed HIPIMS technology for coatings for cryogenic coolers for space satellites, achieving spaceflight qualification.

Professor Ehiasarian has been the clear leader in rallying the international scientific community to focus on the new HIPIMS technology, and to promote the dissemination and exchange of knowledge. As early as 2003 he organised and chaired the first HIPIMS sessions at international conferences in the USA. Since 2010 he has chaired the International Conference on HIPIMS, organised jointly with the Fraunhofer IST and endorsed by the European Joint Committee.

In general the whole body of Professor Ehiasarian’s work is impressive. It provides a rare example of exceptionally broad research across the whole spectrum from fundamental studies to large scale industrialisation.

This is a survey on open science and career development by the European Physical Society (EPS) in collaboration with G. O’Neill, the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) and with the Open Science Policy Platform (OSPP) fo the European Commission. The survey is aimed at all types and stages of researchers in Europe and particularly encourages early-career researchers to respond.

The Landau-Spitzer Award on the Physics of Plasmas for “Outstanding contributions to plasma physics” is jointly sponsored by the Plasma Physics Divisions of the American Physical Society and the European Physical Society.

The Award is given to an individual or group of researchers for outstanding theoretical, experimental or technical contribution(s) in plasma physics and for advancing the collaboration and unity between Europe and the USA by joint research or research that advances knowledge which benefits the two communities in a unique way. The award may be given to a team or collaboration of up to four persons affiliated with either the European or US institutions.
See details in http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/awards/landau-spitzer-award/131-2/

This year the award is intended for an early career researcher (in the first 10 years of their career following the award of a PhD). This year the winner/-s would be offered an invited talk at the 2018 APS DPP meeting.

Establishment & Support
The American Physical Society (APS) and the European Physical Society (EPS), through their respective Plasma Physics Divisions, will each contribute $2000 per prize.

Rules & Eligibility
Self-nominations are not accepted. Members of the APS Division of Plasma Physics Executive Committee or members of the EPS Plasma Physics Division Board are not eligible.

The European Physical Society, through its Plasma Physics Division, is pleased to announce the Hannes Alfvén Prize 2018 is awarded to

Professor Tony Bell FRS of Oxford University

Tony Bell has opened up new research fields in both astrophysics and the laboratory. His seminal contributions cover cosmic ray acceleration by shocks, magnetic field amplification by cosmic rays, flux limited electron transport, generation of magnetic field by laser‑produced energetic electrons, collimation of electron beams for inertial fusion, prolific production of electron‑positron pairs.

Scientific background

Tony Bell is a theoretical plasma physicist. During the course of his career he has opened up new research fields in both astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. His foremost achievement is the leading role he played in the development of what is now the standard model of astrophysical particle acceleration and cosmic ray (CR) origins.

(ii) In 2004 he showed how streaming cosmic rays can excite a new plasma instability and amplify magnetic fields as required for CR acceleration to PeV energies in supernova remnants (SNR) and to explain the strong magnetic fields observed at shocks.

The process of diffusive shock acceleration was independently proposed by Bell and by three other research groups. The theory of magnetic field amplification was proposed by Bell alone. Shock‑ accelerated relativistic electrons are responsible for the synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation from radio to gamma‑ray wavelengths that contributes a substantial part of our knowledge of the universe.

In the field of laboratory plasma physics Tony Bell has been one of the main players over three decades in developing the understanding of electron transport in laser‑produced plasmas. A long‑ term aim is the development of laser‑driven thermonuclear fusion as a commercially viable source of electricity. In the medium term, laser‑plasma interactions at high laser intensity are increasingly seen as a short‑pulse source of energetic photons, protons, electrons and positrons with a variety of applications. Tony Bell’s main achievements in laboratory plasma physics are:

(i) Explanation of ‘flux‑limited’ inhibition of thermal conduction in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) capsules. This initiated the development of the non‑local theory of electron transport that has proved to be one of the building blocks of the understanding of laser‑ produced plasmas.

(ii) Theory of energetic electron transport, showing how self‑generated magnetic field can focus beams of energetic electrons into the dense thermonuclear fuel as required for high gain ICF by ‘fast ignition’.

(iii) Theoretical demonstration that Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) will play an important role in experiments with next generation high power lasers leading to prolific gamma‑ray and electron‑positron pair generation.

The common theme uniting these apparently disparate researches is the generation and transport of energetic particles whether they are cosmic rays in astrophysics or energetic electrons and electron‑positron pairs in laser‑produced plasmas.

Nominations are now open for the Edison Volta Prize of the European Physical Society [EPS]. The award – intended to promote excellence in research – will be given in recognition of outstanding research and achievements in physics.

The EPS Edison Volta Prize is given biennially to individuals or groups of up to three people. The award consists of a diploma, a medal, and €10,000 in prize money.

The Prize was established in 2011 by the Fondazione Alessandro Volta, EDISON S.p.A. and the EPS. It was awarded for the first time in 2012.

The Prize Selection Committee is composed of:

the EPS President

an EPS Division or Group Chair

an EPS Honorary Member

a Representative of an EPS Associate Member institution

a Representative of Centro Volta.

Nominations for the EPS Edison Volta Prize 2018 should include:

personal details about the nominee(s), including biographical statements

citations highlighting the work of the nominee(s)

up to three statements of support from individuals who are familiar with the work.